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A Deputy Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Anthony Abayifa Karbo says the party is too broke to develop a monetary relationship with the media. 

According to him, the party will rather develop and build a strong relationship based on professionalism rather than resort to monetary inducements.

“The NPP will not develop a monetary or monthly salary relation with the various media houses or individuals because the party doesn’t have that capacity.

“The party will rather develop a relationship based on professionalism” Anthony Abayifa Karbo told host of Adom FM’s “Burning Issues” programme on Monday.

“If the only way of building a solid relationship with the media is to be giving out money and Land cruisers (vehicles) to journalists then the NPP is not ready to build that relationship” he emphasized.

Recently, the opposition party has alleged that some journalists have been paid huge amounts of money by the John Mahama administration to keep their focus on the internal happenings of the NPP, as opposed to bad governance the people have been subjected to under the 7 year rule of the NDC government.

The acting Chairman of the NPP, Freddie Blay, made these allegations at a press conference held at the party’s headquarters on Friday, November 27, to denounce what they described as the State-sponsored attacks on the party.

According to the NPP Chairman, instead of the media focusing its attention on the incompetent Mahama administration, which has brought in its wake worsening economic hardships, rising levels of unemployment, high cost of living, a rapidly depreciating currency, ‘dumsor’, low business and consumer confidence in the economy, and growing levels of despondency amongst the populace, the media, surprisingly, has its focus rather on the opposition.

Commenting, Anthony Karbo said the NPP has a good relationship with the media but some of them are only interested in the downfall of their party.

He called on the media to focus on the hardships and challenges facing the nation instead of the internal affairs of an opposition party.

But, the National Organizer of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), Kofi Adams has dismissed the allegations by the NPP that some part of the media has been bought and paid by political parties.

He said all institutions have been forced into giving what they call 'solidarity' to all media houses and it would therefore be wrong to accuse the media of selling out to any political party.

Meanwhile, Deputy Director at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) Dr. Franklin Oduro has described the demand for monetary compensation before the publication of stories as very unhealthy for Ghana's development. 

He added that some media outlets only publish stories favouring the highest bidder, "which is very worrying".

Dr. Oduro called on the managers of media houses and journalists to do more stories based on national issues and not their selfish interests.